Hyde Park – 29th June 2025

It’s damp and dark,
walking here alone,
wandering Hyde Park,
far away from home;

Just wanting a hold,
anything that soothes,
feet freezing cold,
shuffling in wet shoes;

A future unclear,
a past to forget;
ending up right here,
rattled by regret;

Searching for arms
to comfort and explain;
thundering alarms,
continues the rain;

Wished to make a mark
before the end of days;
wandering Hyde Park,
lost in so many ways.

Shared with No Theme Thursday and using the picture above as inspiration, which looks a hell of a lot like Hyde Park in Sydney. The feelings expressed in this poem are not exactly mine, though and reflect recent conversations with teenage students searching for themselves and coming up short.

Sinking Sands – 15th March 2025

Washed up on the sandy shore, I am the debris
of all the bad decisions made with certainty;
it seems I’m not done, up ahead, the paths to choose;
so many losses to come, so much more to lose.

For every adventure approached at full throttle,
all ended the same, clutching an empty bottle;
last night’s enlightenment sought to confuse;
so many losses to come, so much more to lose.

In pursuit of fun, all the wasted time I spent
losing myself in dreams and repeated lament;
here I go again, sober and set to abuse;
so many losses to come, so much more to lose.

A 12-syllable Complaint shared with dVerse and No Theme Thursday picture prompt. The refrain was inspired and paraphrased from this post at Tiny Hearts, though I’m not sure exactly who originally penned it.

The Cooing – 10th March 2025

Why do they move in their metal boxes?
They don’t have wings? They can’t fly?
How do they find their way home
When they can’t view the whole sky?

Do they love and mate with just one?
Both taking care of their nest
What the hell are they doing before the sun
Sets each day in the west?

Why do they not eat the food they leave
For us to nourish and grow?
Sat pondering on the wire, we can’t believe
That they know something we don’t know

Inspired by an image from an old No Theme Thursday and a conversation between Amy and me, where we wondered about the birds nesting next to our house and I wondered what they were thinking about us.

A River Of Cliches – 5th March 2025

A young man, resting here weary
Ruminating possibilities and theory
With age, cliches come to mind
Once revelations, destined to find

Endless the water’s progression
Manifesting yesterday’s lesson
Never stepping in the same river twice
The path of least resistance, best advice

So pull yourself up by the bootstraps
Certainty has no time for perhaps
The cliche becomes the best insight
Rolling down the river, a delight

Shared with No Theme Thursday picture prompt, which brought to mind many cliches but then got me thinking about how when we are young those cliches are realisations and it is only in time that they become cliches. We have to discover them for ourselves first.


Charlie Zero The Poet Music picks & Reviews #13 and my quick thoughts:

William Basinski – Musically not my cup of proverbial. It seems there some story behind this work but I wasn’t inspired enough to find out more.

Helm – I like parts of this and overall it’s pretty interesting. With everything else available to listen to this won’t be making it to the try again pile though.

Matmos – I like Matmos. I like their vibe and style…. but in that cliched way “i like their old stuff better than their new stuff’

b e g o t t e n 自杀 – this intrigued me a little bit even though I’m not really into it. There’s definitely not enough guitars in today’s selection! 😄

Samiyam – definitely the most interesting to me out of this selection. In a different mood I might like this one.

SpaceBeat – 23rd February 2025

time and space make melodies
soulful sounds become sublime
beginnings of memories
ear-worm-holes of our spacetime

Shared with No Theme Thursday (picture prompt) and using the form Ae Freislighe:

  • Quatrain stanzas (4-line stanzas)
  • 7 syllables per line
  • Lines 1 and 3 rhyme together, but they rhyme as three syllables (xxa)
  • Lines 2 and 4 rhyme together as two syllables (xb)
  • The final syllable, word, or line of the entire poem should be the same as the entire poem begins (the poetic term for this is dunadh)

It Was Told – 19th November 2024

Time out of mind, the rock of ages
The time of our lives was to be had
Foretold on ageing faded pages
Three heads good, foreheads bad

Sands a-trickle made to measure
Losing track as the dawn is cracking
Always racing towards some leisure
Begged and borrowed to be slacking

It’s up, beyond a blue moon hiding
To weave a future, past and pleasant
Dropped stitches will do their biding
When Nick manifests in the present

Shared with No Theme Thursday picture prompt (above) and Moonwashed Weekly Prompt – Foretelling

A Mad Man Made Man – 2nd November 2024

A
made man
comes apart,
seams unravelling
Bolts become unscrewed;
Filled full of dust and dirt
Electrical kickstarter
Blood pumped in from poison vials,
Eyes barely open to see machines
Clinging to this life for a madman’s dreams

Confusion reigns in this laboratory
there seems to be something in the air;
A sadness amongst the madness
Who is the real madman here?
A sigh, a final breath;
Living forever
is a fool’s game
Give it up
This dream?
Dead

Shared with No Theme Thursday and the attached picture prompt

Stone Sirens – 20th October 2024

Why the angels are heaven-bound?
What purpose do they serve
When on earth there’s no sign to be found?

The witchcraft of man, made curious
The angel descends to earth
God’s breath drawn and furious

A silent walk through woods at night
amongst the garden flowers
Where beauty hides within plain sight


In thunder and a whirl of lightning flash
A metamorphosis into a siren
God’s wrath turns golden wings to ash

Unable to fly and then bound in stone
God sighs at the circle of life
The angel’s choice to die alone

Shared with No Theme Thursday picture prompt and The Sunday Whirl Wordle #675
(wordlist: witchcraft metamorphosis garden whirl woods fly siren sign breath stone circle why)